On May 15 in Sochi, Gazprom signed bilateral agreements with Italy's ENI, Bulgarian Energy Holding, the Greek DESFA Corporation, and Serbia Gas -all state-controlled companies- on implementing Gazprom's South Stream project for gas export to Europe. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attended the signing of... MORE

On May 20-23 Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Turkey. Bilateral economic ties were an important element on da Silva's agenda, who was accompanied by government ministers and leading businessmen. The visit highlighted the prospects for improving cooperation between the two emerging economies,... MORE

Gazprom's extensive network of loyalists, often act as "men of sacrifice," devoted to cleansing the image of the Russian state owned gas monopoly. Working out of a modern office building in Berlin owned by Gazprom Germania, a German registered company fully owned by Gazprom Export... MORE

Gas and oil supplies to energy-hungry Europe have always featured as the key topic in talks between Astana and EU officials, concerning Kazakhstan's OSCE chairmanship in 2010. Stifled by the precarious situation in the energy sector, the EU has often ignored the heavy-handedness of the... MORE

On May 16 while Moscow was captivated by the spectacle of the "Eurovision" song contest, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin escaped to Sochi to devote himself to gas politics. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was his first guest, followed by the ceremony marking the signing of... MORE

On May 16 in Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL signed an agreement to acquire a 10 percent stake in Pearl Petroleum, the holder of exploration and production rights in two gas fields in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The... MORE

On May 12 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved the latest version of the "National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation up to 2020" (www.scrf.gov.ru, May 12). The text of the 7,300 word document was posted on the website of the Russian Security Council and is... MORE

According to a senior EU official a new deal has been struck between Turkey and the EU paving the way to sign the intergovernmental agreement for the Nabucco project in Ankara on June 25. The breakthrough was reportedly made possible by Turkey dropping its uncompromising... MORE

A methane blast at the Tunlan coal mine in Shanxi on February 22 killed 78 miners and the last body was not recovered until five days later (Nanfang Daily, February 27). China’s numerous collieries, most of them being township and village enterprises (TVEs), have long... MORE

Barely nine days after the Hungarian gas trader Emfesz KFT announced that it will begin receiving supplies of 3 billion cubic meters annually from the Zug (Switzerland) based company RosGas AG, rather than the now inactive RosUkrEnergo (RUE) the Russian press reported that Emfesz has... MORE